Slices of Life
by Belfast Docks
Summary: Sketches of romantic fun; short slices of life featuring Kobato and Fujimoto Kiyokazu taking place after the series.
1. Uniform

**Author's Note:** I've watched the anime and read the synopsis for the manga (poor post grad students are not afforded the privilege of actually buying manga, lol). So I do know the basic differences between the two. This probably more anime-based. I just loved this pairing and wanted to write something more than fluff for them...something pushing a harder (pun intended) rating.

**Disblaimers:** Is it really necessary to state that I don't own CLAMP or Kobato? I would think that would be pretty darned obvious since I just said I'm a stone-broke post-grad student in the above paragraph, but just in case you were under some illusion that I do own these marvelous things...yeah no, I don't.

**Rating:** Rated an M because while the first chapter is pretty tame, I can't vouch for myself in the future. At present, these are just sketches of romantic fun...little slices of life featuring Kobato and Kiyokazu taking place after the series.

~BD

* * *

**Slices of Life: Uniform**

* * *

It was that uniform.

It should make him feel like a perverted old man. He was thirty-six after all, and she was only sixteen. He was an attorney and she was a high school student.

But for starters, there hadn't been a great age difference between them the first time he met her. Back then, he had been twenty and she had been about sixteen. If she hadn't been reborn, they would still be close in age.

More importantly, he didn't _feel_ thirty-six. He felt like a horny teenager. He felt hot and bothered and _hard_.

Especially when she wore that bloody _uniform_.

She wasn't as innocent as she had been the first time they'd met, either – which complicated matters slightly. Her rebirth meant she had the opportunity to grow up in this time instead of just being dropped into it by some higher power to fulfill a contract to save her practically non-existent life. She now had friends, she went to high school, she read shojo manga, and she watched movies. She liked ice cream, walking in the park, and she wore strawberry hair clips that shimmered in the sunlight.

She was still Kobato, of course. She still had her kind, sweet, loving nature – the same personality he remembered. But she just _couldn't _be quite as innocent as before.

For one thing, it was as if she _knew_ that wretched uniform turned him on. Like she knew that short skirt got his blood going. God help him, when she stopped by the office to visit him (under the pretense of discussing the conditions of her grandfather's will), it was all he could do not to let his boss catch on to anything. Like the fact that he was desperately in love in his underaged client.

Or when he met her at a café after school to pretend to discuss some legal issue that he was working on in order to free the house into her name when she became of age. She would walk up with her satchel over her shoulder, that short pleated skirt catching the breeze, showing impossibly long legs for such a short girl. His eyes couldn't seem to focus on anything but creamy, pale thighs and he would began to imagine his hands ghosting over the soft flesh, pulling her hips flush to his, his fingers flirting with the hem of her knickers just at her buttocks, hearing her breath catch in her chest as he leaned down to kiss her...

He couldn't act just yet, though. He didn't give a damn about his job; what with all the paperwork, being an attorney was far more boring than he had anticipated at the age of twenty. He had saved most of his money over the past sixteen years, having nothing important to spend it on except a few expensive suits, so he was well vested and could retire if he felt like it. But he did he care about her reputation, because he cared about _her_. And he didn't want to scare her unnecessarily.

So he gritted his teeth and took cold showers, and cursed the school for having such short skirts in the first place.


	2. Move

**Slices of Life: Move**

* * *

When his boss suggested he find the girl a place to stay since she had no living family, his brain went into a frenzy of strategic planning and possibilities.

Of course, his boss - completely unaware of his subordinate's madly working cogs - went on that it would be most ideal if Fujimoto did this, because he had formed such a close business relationship with the girl in his effort to handle her grandfather's will. He suggested Fujimoto find a nice, inexpensive apartment that was safe and close to her school.

Kiyokazu smoothly agreed.

(There was no need to tell his boss that he had other plans.)

Convincing Kobato was easy enough. He met with her that weekend in the country, dressed comfortably and away from prying eyes. Her grandfather's large country home included extensive grounds, and he found himself delightfully walking through one of the surrounding meadows with her. Thank God she was wearing sensible clothes instead of that school uniform he was so damned frustrated about.

"I've been thinking about you living by yourself," he began, wrapping an arm around her slender waist. "Alone."

"I'm not alone," she chirped. "I have Ioryogi-san."

His mouth twitched. He didn't ask where said Ioryogi-san was currently hiding – probably traversing between dimensions to eat baumkuchen and give them time alone, for which he was truly grateful for. The only downside was that he would owe the little blue bastard later. That dog was worse than an ironclad contract, he never gave anything for free, not even time alone.

But he was a good protector, so Kiyokazu said, "True. But I was thinking that _I_ was lonely without _you_, actually. And I was hoping you felt the same way. I was wondering...do you want to move in with me? We could find a two bedroom apartment..."

She blushed – a beautiful pale pink that blossomed over her creamy cheeks as she diverted her eyes and smiled shyly.

"_Hai_," she whispered, leaning into his side as they strolled. "I miss being around you now that I know the truth again." She paused and clutched at his shirt. "I'd like that. Living in the same apartment, I mean. I hate being apart from you."

He swallowed. "We couldn't tell anyone, though. Some people wouldn't understand. I'm a lot older than you, now. You're still a minor and there are laws about ethics."

"I understand. Ioryogi-san made me promise not to tell things the first time I was here. I can keep a secret." She looked suddenly startled. "Oh! But we _can _tell Ioryogi-san, can't we?"

"Yes, we can tell Ioryogi." He didn't elaborate on the fact that Ioryogi would probably kill them both if they didn't include him in such plans. "He has to follow you, I suspect. It's probably in his current contract."

Her brow furrowed. "Probably. When can we move?"

"As soon as you like. I've already scouted apartments close to your school and my office. There are a couple available."

She smiled again, that special smile she saved just for him, and he felt as though he had tripped on a step going down the stairs.


	3. Friends

**Slices of Life: Friends**

* * *

Shortly after they reconnected, he asked her to catch the train to Tokyo and meet him one evening at the station. Ioryogi could come too.

"Where are we going?" she asked curiously, after she had disembarked and hugged him tightly.

"A friend," he responded. "Someone who remembers you."

This had been a point of frustration for her – that no one remembered her except Kiyokazu and Ioryogi. She had asked about Sayako-sensei, and he had told her of Sayako's new kindergarten; how Oikura was helping and the two were back together. But he also warned her that no one remembered her, because he had already asked everyone, and to understand that she would be a new person to all those she had known sixteen years earlier.

Kobato had accepted this fact, albeit her expression was bittersweet as she'd nodded in understanding. It was enough that Kiyokazu remembered, she said. She could get to know the others again.

Now, she asked in surprise, "Who remembers me? I thought you said that no one did."

He smiled. "It's a surprise."

When they arrived at the gate, she gasped. "This is... Kohaku-san's home!"

Ioryogi rolled his eyes and made a disgruntled noise, before hopping out of Kobato's bag to walk on his own. Kiyokazu rang the bell and they waited. A few minutes later, Kohaku greeted them, her eyes lighting up joyfully.

"Of course, I remember you," she said gently, hugging Kobato. "I am not of this world, but from the same realm as Ioryogi. I couldn't tell you back then. Oh, but it's so wonderful to see you once more."

Kobato hugged Kohaku back. "I'm so glad someone else remembers."

Kohaku smiled down at Ioryogi. "It's good to see you again too, Ioryogi-san."

Ioryogi tilted his head back and gazed up at the fallen angel. "And you."

As Kobato and Ioryogi walked through the gate, Kohaku smiled up at Kiyokazu and said quietly, but cheekily, "Didn't I tell you that you would find her again?"

He smiled. Yes. She had.


	4. Clothing

**Slices of Life: Clothing**

* * *

They agreed to keep her grandfather's estate. Somehow, they each felt connected to it, as though it were something from a dream of a dream. Every once in a while, Kiyokazu felt a sense of déjà vu whenever he walked into the music room, as though he had been there before, a long time ago. Kobato said she felt the same way, though she couldn't quite remember anything about it – just that it felt familiar.

In the meantime, she moved from the country to the apartment he'd selected: a two-bedroom flat that was quiet and uneventful. It didn't seem to bother her that she was staying in an apartment with a man, but it probably hadn't occurred to her, either.

Or at least that was what he thought at first.

After a week, he started to wonder.

If he had been turned on by her before, whenever she happened to come to his office to check on the status of the probate, it was nothing to how he felt _living_ with her.

It was as though she wore things just to get his attention. The Kobato he had known sixteen years earlier wouldn't have done such a thing, but the reborn Kobato was... a little different, somehow.

There was that flimsy night tee that hung to her knees in soft pink with gold sequins in the shape of a heart on the front. He only saw her in it every night, after she'd taken a shower and was walking back to her bedroom, her hair damp and her skin glowing. She say a cheery _good night_ before slipping into her room with a shy smile, as though she _wanted_ him to follow her.

_Surely not_, he thought desperately. She was still underaged. She was too innocent. _Wasn't she_?

And in the mornings, it was that damned short uniform skirt she wore to school. Every morning she would lean over the table to grab a piece of toast, her creamy thigh right next to his arm. And he couldn't wrap his hand around it and pull her into his lap to kiss her senseless, though he sure as hell wanted to.

One evening it was a pair of shorts that were practically indecent, as she sat beside him, cross-legged on the couch to watch television. She may as well have been wearing a bikini bottom for all the good they did. He couldn't focus on the news at all.

Or there was that flirty little dress that was too short and cut too low in the front; she'd put that on one evening when he suggested they walk down the street to get ramen. Her soft breasts swelled just above the low neckline, tantalizing and teasing. Dinner was torture.

Then one weekend it had been a pair of jeans that would have been perfectly fine, were it not for a top that was too short and rode up every so often, flashing her taut midriff in a way that made him wonder what it would feel like for the skin of her stomach to brush against the skin of _his_ stomach. He jammed his thoughts and excused himself to the bathroom just before they left for the park, locking the door and grasping the countertop until his knuckles turned white. He hadn't jacked off so much since he had been in high school himself, damn it. Now it seemed he was doing it every _day_.

As he unzipped his slacks, he heard her knock softly on the door.

"Kiyo?"

"In a minute," he snarled.

"Did I do something to upset you?"

"No!" He forced his voice into a tone of calm as his heavy erection fell into his palm and he pulled it from his slacks. "Just give me a minute?"

"Hai," she chirped.

A couple of minutes later, imaging her beautiful little body spread beneath him, he came hard. When the stars finally faded from his vision, he wondered what on earth he had been thinking to suggest they live together.

She was going to be the death of him.


End file.
